A man has admitted to his role in the car bomb assassination of Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose work included a role in the Panama Papers revelations.
Vince Muscat changed his plea to guilty during a pre-trial hearing and was sentenced to 15 years, a relatively lenient term, after he co-operated with police.
The 2017 car bomb killing of Caruana Galizia, 53, shone a spotlight on corruption on the island.
Muscat has been under arrest since December 2017 when, along with two other men, he was accused of planning and carrying out the assassination.
The other two have not changed their pleas of not guilty.
The victim's family expressed their "hope” that the plea would be a significant step in securing justice for Caruana Galizia.
Her killing "destroyed her right to life and removed her right to enjoy her family and grandchildren who were born after her murder", said the family’s lawyer, Jason Azzopardi.
In a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, Muscat's lawyer Marc Sant informed the court that his client wanted to register an admission.
When asked how he wanted to plead, Muscat replied: "Guilty."
Judge Edwina Grima told the lawyer: "These are grave accusations. Murder, conspiracy. He possibly faces a life term."
But Muscat again pleaded guilty to charges including murder, possession of explosives, placement of the bomb and criminal conspiracy.
He must also pay €42,930 ($52,150) in court expenses.
Two brothers, George and Alfred Degiorgio, were arrested in December 2017 along with Muscat, and businessman Yorgen Fenech is also awaiting trial for allegedly orchestrating the murder.
Mr Fenech denies the charges.
Caruana Galizia, described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", was known for investigating high-level corruption, including contributions to the 2016 Panama Papers data leak.
The self-confessed middleman in the plot, Melvin Theuma, gave state evidence in 2019 in return for a pardon.
Muscat's request for a similar deal was denied last month, but a legal source said he had been offered a reduced sentence in a plea bargain.
No official information about the deal has been given and lawyers agreed on Tuesday that submissions for punishment would take place behind closed doors.
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Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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The five pillars of Islam
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5.
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
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- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
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Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies – by Kiana Danial
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Ms Danial is a finance coach and former currency analyst who writes for Nasdaq. Her broad-strokes primer (2019) breaks down investing in cryptocurrency into baby steps, while explaining the terms and technologies involved.
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Begin your cryptocurrency journey here.
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1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
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Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
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How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Tomorrow 2021
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Ain Dubai in numbers
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Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
World Mental Health Day
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